Bernell "Benny" Pollard, 24, and Jamiron Pollard, 31, now face an automatic sentence of life in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of 2-year-old Jeremy Galmon. The jury also returned unanimous guilty verdicts on two counts of attempted second-degree murder for each defendant.

Defense attorney Arthur Harris said he was disappointed in the verdict but declined further comment. A prosecutor declined to comment.

The jury was faced with the question of who to believe among the witnesses who testified about the identities of the shooters. The cousins were initially picked out by two witnesses in the days after the shooting.

But one witness ended up dead before he could testify, and the other refused to answer questions when hauled to the witness stand by prosecutors this week.

Bernell Pollard ,left, and Jamiron Pollard were convicted Friday in the shooting death of 2-year-old Jeremy Galmon, who was struck by a stray bullet and killed during a Central City second-line parade in 2010. Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office

During closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Francesca Bridges gave an emotion-charged narrative about the symbolism and importance of second-line parades in the city at weddings and funerals, the beginning of celebrations all the way to the end of them.

"A second line in this city is synonymous with celebration," Bridges said. "A second line is not synonymous with second-degree murder."

The prosecution appeared to hit a bump in the road on Thursday, when their key witness, Sean Briggs, 28, refused to answer many questions despite having previously told police that the Pollard cousins -- who he picked out of a photo line-up -- were the men who opened fire. Briggs told police the men were shooting at him, according to testimony.

Police also testified that another man, Sidale Dorsey, identified the Pollard cousins, but Dorsey was shot to death three weeks after he came forward to detectives in September 2010.

Assistant District Attorney Brittany Reed said during closing arguments that Briggs didn't want to identify the Pollard cousins as they sat in the courtroom because he was afraid of what would face him back on the street.

According to police, Briggs had thrown a gun underneath a house on First Street after the shooting, and as a convicted felon, it was against the law for him to have a gun. Briggs was arrested, but later was offered an immunity deal in exchange for testifying.

Harris, who represents Bernell Pollard, insisted that Briggs' identification of the men was forced through "coercion, threats and promises."

"The state has failed miserably today to prove that Bernell Pollard is guilty of anything. The state has just plain failed," Harris said.

Defense attorney Ammon Miller also argued that the evidence was weak and the prosecution presented "nothing that would indicate that Jamiron Pollard had anything to do with the firing of a gun or possession of a gun on the day for which we are here."

Earlier in the day, the defense put on its case, calling two women to the witness stand who both said they saw a gunman running away from the scene that day, and he was neither of the defendants. Both women were friends of the Pollard family and never went directly to police in the days and months after the shooting.

Several other prosecution witnesses who testified described the shooters they saw open fire that day, but their descriptions varied and only one woman was able to point to one of the men, Bernell Pollard, when shown a photo lineup by detectives at the time.

As the jury deliberated the fates of the two men in the death of the 2-year-old toddler, New Orleans police officers were investigating the shooting death of another toddler, 13-month-old Londyn Samuels, who was shot in her babysitter's arms Thursday night in Central City.